Dr. Rushwan

NEUROSURGERY
Dr Vipul Gupta, 41, Head, Neuro-intervention, Medanta – The Medicity

Vipul Gupta watched his 33-year-old brother die of a malignant tumour in the brain eight years ago. “We knew it was hopeless but we went all the way. He was operated on thrice, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in India and Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. That’s when I realised that even when the chips are down, the family does not give up, so you have to give it your best,” says the Delhi-based Gupta. He’s a little embarrassed about the emotional outpouring. “Surgeons can’t be emotional, it won’t help the patient on the table. You have to be calm and think clearly,” he says. At 41, Gupta heads neuro-intervention at Medanta – the Medicity, where he moved after doing his MBBS from Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medial College in 1996 and training in neuro-radiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for three years. “I’m out-doorsy and enjoy swimming, rafting and rock-climbing. I broke my knees twice in school. The operation and forced bed-rest for six months slowed me down, forcing me to study which helped me crack the MBBS easily,” he laughs.

Dr Deepak Agrawal, 40, Associate professor, Neurosurgery, AIIMS
He’s the guy at the frontier, treating accident victims at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, best known for treating some of the bloodiest and most bizarre accident cases in the country. “Most accident victims we get are people with severe head or spinal injuries that are often fatal. It does get you down, but nothing can beat the high of seeing a patient everyone including your colleagues had given up on, walk into your clinic for a follow-up. That’s when you know that miracles do happen,” says Dr Agrawal. Agrawal did his MBBS at the University College of Medical Science in 1994 – where he met his onco-surgeon wife Swati – and his training in neurosurgery at AIIMS. “My professional high was being awarded the ‘Young Neurosurgeon of the Year’ Award by the American Congress of Neurosurgeons in 2008. The personal one was my daughter Ayushi, who is five,” he says. His father Dr Ved Prakash was also a neurosurgeon at AIIMS, so Agrawal’s becoming a surgeon was almost pre-determined. “I like to catch up on my emails before breakfast, so I begin work at 5.30 am. I leave home at 7.30, doing rounds of the ward for three hours, which is followed by surgeries that usually go on till 7. Then come the evening rounds, which finish at 9 pm. Add to this administrative work, teaching and writing and correcting research papers, and my day never seems to end,” says Agrawal.

OPHTHALMIC SURGERY
Sri Ganesh, 44, Eye surgeon and chairman, Nethradhama Hospital, Bangalore

Bangalore residents are used to seeing Dr Sri Ganesh zooming down the streets to his farm on his Suzuki Intruder, which he exchanges for his Audi Q7 or BMW 5-Series when he visits the hospitals he set up. “Both my grandmas were blinded with cataract, one because of a botched up surgery. I think seeing them faltering around the house made me decide I wanted to do all I could to help people see,” says the 44-year-old. Eye surgery techniques have become much safer now. “Back then, there were no intraocular lenses (artificial lenses put inside the eye in place of the natural ones) and the failure rate of a simple cataract surgery was 30 per cent, largely due to infection. Now, less than 0.1 per cent cataract and vision-correction surgeries have complications,” he says. Sri Ganesh met his wife Sumanshree at a paratrooping camp in Agra. He was 17, she was 16. “Someone stole my things and she was very sweet,” he says. They married six years later, in 1990, after Sri Ganesh did his MBBS. The couple have three children, Supriya, Sushant and Skanda. Apart from running six hospitals – four in Bangalore, one in Mysore and one in Mangalore – Sri Ganesh runs a 90-bedded charitable hospital in Padmanabhanagar that does 8,000 free cataract surgeries a year.

Dr Mahipal S Sachdev, 52, Centre for Sight Group of Hospitals

Mahipal S Sachdev, eye surgeon to the rich and powerful, never invests in anything but health. “My last investment was Harshad Mehta and I burnt my fingers there,” says Dr Sachdev. His investments in healthcare – time, energy and money – have shown better results. Sachdev was told he was crazy when he quit as associate professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to join the newly-opened Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi in 1996. He was 37. The skeptics got it very, very wrong. Within 15 years of that, he’s running 17 eye hospitals that have become one-stop shops for eye disorders in north India. A year-long fellowship to Georgetown University in Washington DC in ’89-’90 opened his eyes, literally, to the technological imaging and surgical revolution happening in the field of ophthalmology. “I realised less invasive radical surgeries were the way forward, but I needed equipment and trained staff for that. I could not get that in a government set-up. So I set up my own centre, which started in a 8×10 foot room in Safdarjang Enclave in 1996, but we’ve grown a little since then,” he says with obvious pride. Sachdev is arguably the best person to go to for cataract and lasik surgery in India. “This is all I want to do, medicine is in my genes. My mother and brother are doctors, so is my wife Alka and daughters Ritika, 29, and Gitansha, 25,” says Sachdev. Sachdev also has an unexplored, fun side to him. “I did my MBBS from AIIMS, where I was the secretary of the students’ union. We were the ones who threw open Pulse, the students’ festival at AIIMS, to fashion, jam sessions and music. Before that, it was a sporting event. We made it socio-cultural,” he says.

COSMETIC SURGERY
Sunil Choudhary, 42, Aesthetic and Reconstructive surgeon, Max Speciality Hospital, Delhi
Quite like modern day Dr Frankensteins, attaching a hand and replacing chopped fingers with toes is all in a day’s work for reconstructive surgeons. Some, like Sunil Choudhary, who head the aesthetics and reconstruction at Max Speciality Hospital, start a conversation with, “Today, I attached two toes and one finger in the right hand of a 16-year-old who’d lost his fingers in a farming accident. He’ll be able to write now”. This is followed by an MMS of a surgery to fix a congenital defect in which a child’s skull stops expanding naturally, squeezing the brain and making it bulge out of the forehead. Unlike popular perception, silicone implants and other cosmetic procedures make up less than a third of a cosmetic surgeon’s case load. “A lot of what we do is related to reconstruction after cancer surgeries and accident cases, including burns and acid attacks,” he explains. Choudhary grew up in Delhi, went to school in DPS RK Puram and did his MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College, after which he joined the training programme of the UK’s National Health Service.

Dr Shahin Nooreyezdan, 49, Plastic & reconstructive surgeon, Indraprastha Apollo

He insists on giving you a business card. “I’m the only one in the world with this name, so people often get it wrong,” says Dr Shahin Nooreyezdan. There is, however, a little boy called Shahin Sharma, who was called Golu before his grateful parents renamed him after the surgeon who reattached his finger. “It was deeply touching, but also strange. I guess now there’s another person in the world with a very unusual name,” he says. Nooreyezdan grew up in Mumbai, where he lived with his parents in a flat above Russi J Manekshaw, the granddaddy of plastic surgery in India. “Each day, I’d walk past his door on my way home from school and pass this display box with before- and after-surgery pictures, which kept changing every week. I was hooked and decided this was what I wanted to do,” says the Delhi-based Nooreyezdan. He moved to London in 1996, where he worked at St Andrew’s Hospital for three years and met his wife Neda, a British citizen. “When we decided to move back and I went to the Indian High Commission for a visa for my wife, the clerk there said, why are you going? You have a great future here!” he laughs. Most of his work in India is reconstruction. “Unlike other surgeons who can walk in to do the critical part of the surgery, I have to be there from the first incision to the final stitch because what I do is for everyone to see,” says Nooreyezdan, who gets women as young as 19 who need reconstruction after breast cancer surgery. The deft fingers that reconstruct tissues and reattach blood vessels 1.2-1.5 mm in diameter also help him pursue his hobby: collecting and repairing antique clocks. Nooreyezdan has a collection of over 125 pendulum clocks from all over the world, including grandfather clocks from the UK, clocks from ships and railway stations. “It started when I was 17, when I noticed an old, broken, clock at an Irani dhaba. I bought it for R170, got it home and fixed it. I still do it, though I have to pay a guy to wind them up in rotation once a week,” he says. He clearly knows how to wind down.

ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY

Dr Vijay C Bose, 44, Head of orthopaedic surgery, Apollo Chennai
He was part of British orthopaedic surgeon Derek McMinn’s crack team that developed the ‘Birmingham Hip’ – a hip implant that allows people to play contact sports and twist without shouting after a hip transplant – in the late ’90s. Yet what gives Dr Vijay Bose the greatest joy is recognition from his peers. “Three weeks ago, a renowned joint replacement surgeon from the US got his son to our centre for surgery. He’s one of the best in the world and could have done it himself, he could have got it done by the best in his own country, but he still came to India. That’s the quality India offers to the world now,” says Bose. Bose, who joined Apollo Hospital in Chennai in 2000 after six years in Birmingham and Liverpool in the UK, now routinely gets so many patients from overseas that he’s became the face of medical tourism in India for 60 Minutes on CBS News. “I did the first implant in Apollo in 2000 and since then, I have demonstrated the technique across 80 hospitals in India,” says Bose, who did his MBBS from Madras Medical College in 1990. Apart from hip replacement, he does knee and shoulder joint reconstructions.

Dr Suraj Guruv, 36, Orthopaedic surgeon, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai
Dr Suraj Guruv’s last holiday was spent shooting wildlife at Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, but he did not break any laws. Guruv is an amateur photographer and rarely leaves home without his Nikon Digital SLR. “I’m crazy about wildlife photography,” he says. When he’s not shooting, Guruv is fixing damaged hips and knees using minimally invasive bone-conserving surgeries in India that make it possible for people to run, drive and work just as they did before, after hip or knee replacements. Guruv is a Mumbai boy, who grew up in Prabhadevi, went to a neighbourhood school, did his MBBS at Mumbai’s Topiwala National Medical College and worked in Bombay Hospital before going to train in Singapore General Hospital. “I belong to a family of chartered accountants, my dad is one, so is my older brother. So when dad said try something else, I thought, why not?” says Guruv, who aced his entrance exam. “Even though I don’t invest in the markets, I still follow financial news very closely, perhaps because that’s what I’ve grown up hearing,” he says. He returned to India because he wanted to be part of the boom in medical care that India is witnessing. “We now have medical facilities at par with any other in the world, with better care,” he says.

HEART SURGERY
Dr Raja Joshi, 40  Paediatric cardiac surgeon, Apollo
He’s called the ‘bandana guy’ because he wears a bandana instead of a surgical cap while operating. Apart from his training as a paediatric heart surgeon during a five-year stint at Cleveland Clinic in the US, what defines Raja Joshi is his bandana collection. “You have to strike a chord with the kids you’re treating, and a bandana with Dalmatians on it sure helps to break the ice,” says the Delhi-based Joshi who, at 36, became one of the youngest surgeons in the country to set up a paediatric cardiac surgery unit in a major hospital. “My dad was in the air force, I grew up wanting to be a fighter pilot. It was after my class 10 boards that my dad told me there were other ways to earn a living,” he recalls. The idea of being a heart surgeon for children came a year later, after a Doordarshan show on a hole-in-the-heart being fixed. “It was so dramatic, the lights and the surgeons in scrubs, this child being immersed in ice to bring the body temperature down. Suddenly, that was the only thing I wanted to do,” says Joshi. He’s had no regrets. “It’s one of the few surgeries where the patients outlive the surgeons. You won’t believe the number of birthday invites I get. Anyone can do adult heart surgery, paediatric is what separates the boys from the men,” said Joshi. His wife Reena Joshi, 36, is a paediatric anaesthetist who’s helped him introduce innovations such as letting the mother stay with the child in the operation room till he sleeps. “Taking away a baby from the mother makes anxiety levels shoot up. Keeping them together till the baby is anaesthetised improves surgery outcomes,” says Joshi.

Pranav Kandachar, 37, Paediatric heart surgeon, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai
Heart surgery is one of the cleanest surgeries there is, it’s like mathematics. The result is directly related to what you do, there are few surprises,” says Pranav Kandachar, the newest heart surgeon to join Asian Heart Institute’s team of surgeons. “Of course, there are some conditions in which you cannot play god, but in most cases, children can lead active, normal lives after surgery,” he says. After doing his MBBS from Bangalore Medical College in 1997, Kandachar worked at Sion in Mumbai, Apollo Chennai and Colombo, did a year long stint in New Zealand, returned to Bangalore to work at Shirdi Sai Baba Charitable Hospital, and joined the Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, in January this year. “When you’re training, one institute can’t offer you everything. I’ve trained with the best,” he says. Kandachar describes himself as a nature kind of guy, being big time into hydroponics, a scientific method of growing plants in water – without soil – using mineral nutrient solutions. “I have a virtual vegetable garden in my little balcony, where I grow spinach, beans, cauliflower, coriander and mint. I’m planning to grow strawberries next,” he says. He’s also into ornithology and is part of a nature club that goes birdwatching to sanctuaries at least once a month.

Source: HindustanTimes, April 10

Causes

Cholesterol producers causing coronary artery disease
[Source: National Library of Medicine]

Heart blockages are a result of accumulation of fatty material along the walls of coronary arteries. This fatty material or plaque, which is made up of cholesterol and other cells, thickens, hardens (forms calcium deposits), and eventually blocks the arteries.

The slow buildup of plaque may almost block one of your coronary arteries leading to a heart attack in situations when the heart needs more blood or oxygen (e.g. when you are exercising).

Sometimes, the plaque itself develops cracks (fissures) or tears to which blood platelets stick and form a blood clot. A heart attack can occur if this blood clot completely blocks the passage of oxygen-rich blood to the heart.

Certain factors like old age (above 65), male gender, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, fat-rich diet, overweight (by 30%), etc. increase your risk for coronary artery disease.

Symptoms

• Chest pain usually on the left side
• Pain radiating to the arms, shoulders, neck, teeth, jaw, belly area, or back
• Anxiety
• Palpitations (irregular heart beat or the heart beating too fast)
• Shortness of breath
• Light-headedness or dizziness
• Nausea or vomiting
• Sweating
• Fatigue and weakness (especially if you are elderly)

Tests

Your doctor may perform one or more of the following tests:

• Coronary angiography to study how blood flows through your heart
• Computed Tomography scan (CT scan) to create cross-sectional pictures of the chest
• Echocardiography to create a moving picture of the heart using sound waves
• Electrocardiogram (ECG) to record the electrical activity of the heart
• Electrophysiology Study (EPS) to determine the details of irregular heartbeats or arrhythmias
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to take pictures of your body using magnetic and radio waves
• Nuclear ventriculography to show the heart chambers using radioactive materials called tracers

Treatment

Treatment option will depend upon the amount of blockage present. A minor blockage can be treated with the use of stents while a patient suffering from a severe heart blockage may need a heart surgery like a cardiac bypass. Following are some of the treatment options to treat blockages in the coronary artery:

• Angioplasty: Also called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), it is a procedure to open narrowed or blocked blood vessels.
• Stent placement: A small, metal mesh tube that opens up (expands) inside a coronary artery.
• Thrombolytic therapy: Usage of drugs to break up the clot.
• Other medications: To treat and prevent heart attacks.
• Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG): A cardiac procedure to reroute or bypass blood around clogged arteries to improve blood flow and oxygen to the heart.

Cost of treatment

Depending upon the treatment required the cost can range anywhere from upwards of $20,000 in the US for a stent to approximately $10,000 in India for a bypass surgery. For a free quote for a specific surgery in the US or overseas, contact Healthbase, a US medical tourism facilitator.

If you do not carry sufficient health insurance, the medical costs of treating heart blockages can be financially straining. To learn about cheaper and high quality heart treatment overseas, check out medical tourism @ Healthbase.

Related links

• Cheap heart surgery
• Videos of affordable heart hospitals in the US and overseas

URINARY INCONTINENCE TYPES AND TREATMENTS
Though urinary incontinence can be classified into several types, its three main types are: stress, urge and overflow.
Stress incontinence occurs during certain activities like coughing, sneezing, laughing, or exercise, and is most commonly caused by weak pelvic floor muscles.

Urge incontinence or overactive incontinence involves a sudden urge to urinate followed by instant bladder contraction and involuntary loss of urine, and occurs regardless of the amount of urine that is in the bladder.

Overflow incontinence is the constant dribbling of urine usually associated with urinating frequently and in small amounts, and may be caused by weak bladder muscles or a blocked urethra.

Depending on the cause, type and severity of urinary incontinence as well as your lifestyle, treatment approaches available to you may include weight loss, exercises, medications, bladder retraining (timed voiding), biofeedback, electrical stimulation, and if all else fails, then surgery.

MEDICAL TOURISM
Medical tourism is the act of traveling from one city to another within your country (domestic medical tourism) or to another country by crossing international borders (overseas medical tourism) to obtain medical care that is either not available or not affordable at your local provider. The popularity of medical tourism is largely due to the availability of high quality care at a highly discounted price.

Healthcare providers participating in medical tourism boast of modern facilities with state-of-the-art equipments and technologies, and surgeons who are trained or educated in the US or Europe – all this at a cost that’s 60% to 90% cheaper compared to typical US hospital rates.

SURGICAL TREATMENT OF INCONTINENCE ABROAD
Several procedures are offered abroad for the surgical treatment of all types of incontinence – stress, urge, overflow, mixed, etc.

For curing stress incontinence in women, sling procedures such as Tension-free transvaginal (TVT) sling, Transobturator tape (TOT) sling and Mini-sling procedure are available overseas. Another type of procedure for stress incontinence treatment offered abroad is bladder neck suspension procedure which includes Marshall-Marchetti-Krantz procedure (MMK procedure) or a variant of it called Burch procedure.

To treat severe urge incontinence, procedures offered overseas include augmentation cystoplasty or a newer procedure called sacral nerve stimulation.

For the treatment of urinary incontinence in men, some of the procedures available abroad include artificial urinary sphincter, male sling, and urinary diversion.

MEDICAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS FOR INCONTINENCE SURGERY
Some of the most popular countries that patients from the United States travel to for urinary incontinence procedures are Mexico, India, Singapore and Thailand.

Apart from the considerably lower cost of surgery, Mexico is preferred for another obvious reason – its close proximity to the United States. This means shorter travel times and more convenience for the medical tourist.

Singapore‘s high quality of care along with the large concentration of internationally accredited hospitals in the country play a major role in its demand in the medical tourism market for incontinence surgery. Furthermore, English being the official language of the country makes communication with your international provider easy.

But, if you want the best value for your money then India is the answer. The medical tourism hotspot offers prices on procedures that are unbeatable. For instance, a TVT or a TOT procedure, inclusive of the hospital charges and the doctor’s fees, costs approximately USD2,500*.

Also note that urinary incontinence surgery abroad typically involves a 2-3 day stay at the hospital followed by a 3-6 day of recuperation or rehab at a nearby hotel before returning home.

So, if an incontinence surgery is what your local doctor has recommended and treatment abroad is what you wish to seek, then get your local doctor’s report along with any and all reports of diagnostic tests and then call upon a reputed medical tourism company such as Healthbase for a consultation with an overseas incontinence specialist of your choice.

*Note: The price mentioned is for rough planning purposes only. The actual price charged may vary based on your specific medical condition, the provider chosen, currency fluctuations or for any other reason. Transportation, hotel accommodation and food are not included in the price.

Related links

• FREE quote for incontinence treatment anywhere in the world
• Urinary incontinence treatment centers abroad

SINGAPORE’S HEALTH CARE DELIVERY

There are 15 hospitals and medical centers in Singapore that have obtained the united States-based Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation. That is a large concentration of JCI accredited hospitals in one country. A JCI accreditation gives the healthcare provider the top-quality label which in turn gives the patient the peace of mind that the service received will be on par with or superior to what is available in the United States.

To appeal to patients from Europe and other Asian nations, Singapore hospitals are also looking towards European and Asian-based hospital accreditation systems. This says a lot about the quality of healthcare delivery. Not just that, hospitals in Singapore have strategic partnerships with many acclaimed overseas institutes like Harvard Medical School. Such alliances give them access to the latest cutting-edge medical technology. Also, it is common for doctors and surgeons in Singapore hospitals to have an overseas education and training.

TOP SINGAPORE HOSPITALS AND COMMON PROCEDURES

Some of the most famous hospitals in Singapore are National Heart Centre (NHC) , Parkway Hospitals (including Mount Elizabeth Hospital , Gleneagles Hospital , East Shore Hospital ), Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), and Raffles Hospital . Some of the common medical procedures sought in these hospitals are cardiac bypass surgeries , joint replacement procedures , cosmetic or plastic surgeries , cancer therapies like chemotherapy and radiation therapy , and so on. Increasingly, Singapore is becoming popular as an organ transplantation destination as well. Patients visit Singapore from all over the world for transplant surgeries such as liver transplant , kidney transplant , and hair transplant .

There are also several dental offices island-wide that offer good dental services to foreigners for cheap. A lot of tourists coming into Singapore combine vacation with a health check (preventive and wellness checkups) on the side.

SINGAPORE’S USP IN THE MEDICAL TOURISM INDUSTRY

Things that set Singapore apart from others vying for business in the medical tourism industry are:

• Prosperous country: Unlike other medical tourism destinations in the world that are mostly developing countries, Singapore stands out as one of the most prosperous nations in the world with a per capita GDP equal to that of the leading nations of Western Europe.
• Cosmopolitan image: About a quarter of the population is composed of residents from foreign nations making the country culturally diverse. Sensitivity and respect towards people from other cultures, ethnicities and religions is, therefore, at the heart of the society. For international patients seeking medical treatment in Singapore, this is a big plus.
• High service standards: High service standards in all sectors of the economy, and not just in the health care sector, give Singapore a significant advantage in the medical tourism industry.
• English as an official language: You will not have to worry about learning another language or bother with interpreters because English is the most commonly spoken language in the country.
• Tourism: Medical tourists traveling to Singapore often visit the several tourist attractions the country offers. In fact, tourism in Singapore is a major industry and attracts millions of tourists each year. From cultural attractions to natural and heritage conservation sites, and from adventurous activities to relaxation retreats, Singapore caters to every type of tourist.

IN SUMMARY

Singapore may not be the cheapest option available to you in terms of health care but with a price differential of 60-80% (compared to US hospital rates) on major medical care, the cost savings still amount to a lot. High quality of care offered in modern facilities using state-of-the-art technology and equipments makes Singapore a top medical tourism hub.

So, if you need top class medical care but do not have the means to pay for it then get your local doctor’s reports together and call upon a reputed medical tourism facilitator such as Healthbase for affordable treatment in Singapore.

You may have heard about ecotourism. That is what Costa Rica is most famous for. National parks, protected areas, forest reserves, cultural heritage, and flora and fauna untouched by human intervention are what you get to experience when you travel to this most visited nation in the region. But, did you know that Costa Rica is also one of the highly sought-after medical tourism destinations in the world?

WHAT TREATMENTS TO SEEK?

Low-cost high-quality medical care in this exotic country is the reason why patients don’t mind flying to Costa Rica. Former FOX 2 meteorologist from Michigan, Chris Edwards, can vouch for that. He took a trip to Costa Rica for a colonoscopy and some long-wanted dental work. So can Wanda Bough from Kansas, who had a hysterectomy procedure in Costa Rica and saved $23,000. Colonoscopy is a screening of the colon and rectum – the two main parts of the large intestine – to look for inflamed tissue, ulcers, and abnormal growths. Hysterectomy is a surgical removal of the uterus.

Be it cosmetic or plastic surgery ; or LASIK or dental treatments ; or the feel-good wellness treatments and preventive check-ups; or the more serious ones like bariatric , orthopedic and cardiac care ; international patients choose Costa Rica for all sorts of medical services .

WHAT ABOUT QUALITY?

As our medical tourists Chris and Wanda affirm, the service afforded is warm, personalized and above all top-notch in quality. Hospital Clinica Biblica and CIMA Hospital , for example, are both Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited.

What it means to you as a patient is that the same quality of health care that you receive in the USA can be expected at these hospitals in Costa Rica. The Joint Commission International (the international subsidiary of The Joint Commission that accredits US hospitals) is a non-governmental organization with head offices in the United States of America awarding accreditation to health centers around the world in accordance with the most selective international standards and thus ensuring patients will receive superior quality hospital service.

Wanda, who is a registered nurse, understands it very well as she explains in her statement, “I know how hard it is for us to pass certification visits [at our hospital in the US].” She was so impressed by her hospital in Costa Rica, she said, “You could eat off the floors there. The hospitals were spotless.”

WHY COSTA RICAN HEALTHCARE SELLS?

But most of all, why Costa Rican medical care sells is because it is cheap.

$350 is all Chris paid for a colonoscopy in the capital city of San Jose. In his research, doctors in the United States had asked for anywhere between $3,250 and $9,000. Some studies show hospital costs alone to be $1,400 to $3,500 in the US. After tagging on the doctor fees, anesthesiologist fees and lab costs, the cost for a colonoscopy in the United States can be overwhelmingly high especially if you are uninsured or if the test is not covered by your insurance plan. Chris carried a health insurance plan with high deductibles so he figured the medical tourism road would be the most economical even with travel and lodging costs added on. And while he was there he also had extensive dental work done which he says cost him a third of what he thinks he would have paid in the US.

BUYERS BEWARE!

However, here is a word of caution. As with any country in the world, it is true that there are both good and poor providers in Costa Rica as well. So we recommend you do your homework well or engage a specialized medical tourism facilitator. Wanda and Chris are glad they chose the US-based Healthbase to connect them to medical and dental facilities in Costa Rica and also so they could benefit from the various concierge services offered by the company.

IN SUMMATION

If you are an eco-tourist looking for affordable medical attention, then Costa Rica is a perfect destination for you. The beautiful surroundings you will get for recuperation will be an added bonus. Just remember to do your due diligence or simply hire a medical travel agent like Healthbase to save you the headache. Also, when you are in Costa Rica remember to make a bird-watching stop because the country is home to 800 species of them!

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL DISC REPLACEMENT?

The Internet is loaded with information on this subject so we are not going to go deep into explaining what it is and what kind of problems it can solve. If you were to ask one of our spine surgeons on the Healthbase website , however, then you would find out whether or not ADR is a good option for you. Until then here is a gist of the main points related to the surgery.

Artificial disc replacement or ADR is a treatment for patients with severe degenerative disc disease (DDD) which is a condition that can occur in the neck or low back and cause significant pain. ADR or artificial disc replacement surgery removes the affected spinal disc (the cushion that separates your spinal bones or vertebrae and helps protect your spinal column) and replaces it with artificial parts. It’s much like a hip replacement or a knee replacement surgery that replaces the worn out parts with prosthetic implants. The disk replacement surgery which is normally done through the abdomen aims to give flexibility and normal motion to the diseased spinal segment.

If the surgery is being done to treat neck pain and associated problems then it is called a cervical artificial disc replacement surgery. If, on the other hand, the surgery is to treat problems in the lower back, it is called lumbar artificial disc replacement surgery.

So that’s that about ADR for now.

GETTING THE ARTIFICIAL DISC REPLACEMENT SURGERY

What is important next is where to get this surgery. We think we might be able to shed some light on that part and how to do so without going broke. Affordable artificial disc replacement spine surgery is possible due to what is known as medical tourism . If you are one of the more than 47 million uninsured Americans, have a chronic disabling back pain and are a candidate for ADR surgery then you really want to continue reading.

Today’s patient is a global patient. You possibly know someone who has gone to another city or country for medical or dental care. Until recently, the types of care sought abroad have been limited to such treatments as cheap dental implants in Mexico or a face lift in Brazil . But that has changed over the last five years or so. Shopping for major medical care overseas has become a norm these days.

Yet, hopping on a flight abroad is probably the last thing you would want to do if you were suffering from chronic back pain. However, if doing so relieved you of your spinal problems without much affecting your bank balance, you might not find it as abhorrent an idea. Just for comparison purposes, expect to pay only about 20% to 40% of US hospital rates.

We do not need to delve into how the quality of care offered overseas is state-of-the-art, and is tried and tested as you can read all about that on the Healthbase website. But it is safe to keep in mind that just like in the US, there are good and not-so-good quality hospitals and doctors abroad as well. Here are a few suggestions for you if you were considering the medical tourism path of healing.

Outside of the United States, countries boasting some of the top spine centers in the world are India, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Singapore and Turkey. Some of the more well-known spine hospitals in these countries are Apollo Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare (Wockhardt Hospitals), Barcelona Spine Center, Hospital Clinica Biblica, Parkway Hospitals, Anadolu Medical Center, etc.

IN CONCLUSION

Here are 5 things you must know about ADR surgery:
1. It is a treatment for degenerative disc disease of the spine and is an alternative to spinal fusion surgery.
2. Lumbar disc replacement is more challenging to perform than cervical ADR.
3. If cost is a concern, then you should consider medical tourism as a practical solution to cost-effective spine surgeries.
4. Some of the top spine hospitals in the world are in India, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Singapore and Turkey.
5. If medical tourism seems like an uncharted territory to you, you wish to save time and you do not want to end up in a mediocre facility then engage the services of a specialized medical travel facilitator like Healthbase that can connect you with an overseas provider while also extending several other valuable concierge services.

Related links

• Talk to a spine surgeon abroad for FREE

Dr. Sanjay Pai - Lead Orthopedic Surgeon, India

Lead orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sanjay Pai and his team at Fortis Hospitals Bangalore performed this revolutionary surgery by literally remodeling the anatomy of the patient’s knee and recreating or customizing a knee with the right kind of technology and expertise. The new custom fit knee replacement technology designs a perfect instrumentation system that matches the patient’s knee and ensures lesser pain, less tissue damage and faster mobilization.

According to Dr. Pai, “The two operations for knee replacement have been performed for the first time in Asia using the custom fit knee replacement technology. This is indeed a medical breakthrough and likely to revolutionize the way knee replacement surgeries are performed in India. We are glad to be the first adopters of this technology.”

Why Custom-Fit Knee
While conventional knee replacement surgeries retro-fit predetermined sizes of prosthetics on to the patients’ knee, this procedure is very different because it works on the principle that no two patients’ knees are similar. With this technology the patient’s knee is digitally recreated with 3D image mapping after taking into account the bone structure, weight ratios, gender, age and even mechanical alignment. Based on this 3D model the customized knee is created. Something, that just fits them right. This technology ensures far greater accuracy and reduces the operation time by almost 40% and also results in less loss of bone & tissues.

How Custom Fit Knee Works
In short there are 4 steps to building and fitting a Custom-Fit Knee:

• Step 1: Understanding your knee
  The process starts with a CT Scan of the whole leg from the hips to the ankle which is then used to create an advanced 3D image of the leg structure. The age, weight and gender are also taken into account, creating a complete patient imaging.
• Step 2: Processing and planning
  With the 3D plan of the leg structure in place, an anatomical model is created to determine the mechanical alignment – the basic philosophy on which the entire process rests. Virtual instrumentation is then done and the surgery is planned accordingly.
• Step 3: Recreating the knee
  Once the surgery is approved, the Custom Fit instruments are manufactured at state-of-the-art dedicated manufacturing centers. Even the individual patient name and data are etched on each unit to confirm identification during the surgery
• Step 4: Fitting the knee
  With the Custom Fit instrumentation in place, the knee bone is chiseled to perfection so that the prosthetics fit exactly without any requirement for later corrective surgeries. After a 60 minute surgery, the patient ill have the knee that fits you perfectly.

Benefits of Custom Fit Knee Replacement Surgery

• Smaller incision
• Less soft tissue damage
• Lesser pain
• Early and better mobilization
• Better and pain free range of motion
• Improves alignment and sizing by using computer generated images of the patients anatomy to determine bone cuts and implant positioning preoperatively
• Better life span of the processes because of the accurate fit and alignment

Related links

• Knee replacement surgery
• Cost of custom-fit knee replacement surgery
• Medical Tourism in India

Chennai, India: Sixty-five-year-old US citizen Ronald Lemmer’s heart is expected to beat for India after his successful heart transplant operation in Chennai.

He is the first American and the oldest person to undergo a heart transplant in India.

“The US doctors said that my husband would not survive if operated in India. We checked with an Indian doctor who is our friend there. He assured us about the safety and we came to India,” Shelly Lemmer told reporters.

“In the US there is a long waiting list of recipients for heart transplant,” Lemmer said.

The couple came to India in May and Lemmer was admitted to Apollo Hospital.

“We were in discussion with the American couple since March this year. They came here in May and Lemmer was operated upon in July,” senior cardiothoracic surgeon Paul Ramesh said.

According to Ramesh, the Lemmer case was a bit complicated as he had a previous bypass surgery, an angioplasty with coronary stents and a pacemaker.

In the US, Lemmer was told that he had a mortality chance of 80 per cent.

The other challenge was that the transplant was an inter-racial one and the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) has to match.

“The HLA will be an exact match only between identical twins. Between siblings it would slightly differ. The difference will be high between two different races,” Ramesh added.

Fortunately for Lemmer, he was able to get the heart of a 36-year-old man who was declared brain dead after a road accident.

Necessary compatibility tests – height, weight, blood and others – were done and permission from the Transplant Coordination Committee was obtained to carry out the operation, Ramesh said.

Today Lemmer is walking around like a normal person and is planning to return to the US August 10.

“The success of a transplant operation is determined not only by increasing the longevity of the patient but also in improvement in the quality of life he leads post operation,” Ramesh said.

According to him, Lemmer’s quality of life will be better henceforth.

The surgeon said equally interesting are the cases of Kasturirangan, who underwent a heart transplant a year back, and Piyush, who is two and a half years post-transplant and leading normal life.

“For Kasturirangan it is a transgender transplant operation. He now has the heart of a woman,” Ramesh said.

“In the last 25 years we have done 38,000 heart operations in Apollo Hospital and 28,000 are coronary by-pass operations,” chief cardio vascular surgeon MR Girinath said.

According to him, 11,500 operations are beat heart surgeries.

“In India heart transplants are done only in cities like Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin and Bangalore. In the last 15 years, only 100 heart transplants have been done in India of which 10 were done at Apollo Hospital in Chennai,” he said.

Girinath also said that organ transplant operations are subject to various uncertainties and challenges like availability of organ, logistics and coordination with different medical teams – the one that harvests the organ and the other that fixes it in the recipient.

According to Ramesh, heart transplant operations that are not complicated would cost anything between Rs. 800,000 to Rs. 1 million.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/us-national-undergoes-successful-heart-transplant-42529

Related Links

• Medical tourism
• Cardiac surgery in India
• Free quote for any surgery in India

THE NEED FOR HIP RESURFACING
Your hip is a ball and socket joint. Both the ball and socket are covered by a protective layer of cartilage which makes the joint smooth and hip movements swift.

Any condition that damages this cartilage leads to pain, dysfunction and eventually arthritis. Injury, infection, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and bone dysplasias are some reasons that can cause damage to this cartilage thereby necessitating a hip resurfacing surgery.

Traditionally, such issues have been addressed by a total hip replacement (THR) which is a surgery to replace the hip joint by a prosthetic implant. A THR removes part of your healthy bone so the implant can be fixed deeply into the femoral bone. Patients also have certain movement restrictions following a THR surgery.

By contrast, resurfacing, which is a less invasive bone-preserving technology, replaces only the worn, diseased and damaged surfaces of the hip joint, and places an all-metal “ball and socket” implant in the hip joint. Resurfacing allows return to normal and sporting activities post-surgery, reduces the risk of dislocation and makes revision easy (if at all needed).

These reasons make hip resurfacing more favourable over hip replacement in certain specific cases. The anatomy and bio-mechanics after resurfacing mimic a normal hip very closely making it an ideal choice for young or more active patients with non-inflammatory degenerative hip joint disease.

HOW IS A HIP RESURFACING SURGERY PERFORMED?

Birmingham hip resurfacing implant (Image source: Smith & Nephew)

Then, the implant, which comprises of two parts – the metal shell component for the hip socket, and the metal ball component with a short stem for the thigh bone, is placed.

First, the metal shell implant is firmly pressed onto the hip socket. After this the surgeon drills a hole in the femur (so the stem of the femur implant can be fitted into it), fills the metal ball component with bone cement, and fits the ball on top of the thigh bone with its stem into the drilled hole.

Finally, the femur with its new metal head and the hip socket with its new metal shell are put together to form a new resurfaced ball and socket hip joint that looks and functions like a normal hip.

HIP RESUFACING SURGERY AND INDIA
In India, hip surgeons have been practicing the hip resurfacing procedure for over a decade while orthopaedic surgeons in most of the rest of the world are still new to this procedure.

In the United States, for instance, where this procedure is still not commonly performed, FDA approved the first hip resurfacing system only in 2006. It is no wonder then that surgeons in India are much more experienced in this procedure than their counterparts in America.

Today, the majority of hip resurfacing operations are performed in India on Indian as well as foreign patients. Each year thousands of hip resurfacing medical tourists from all across the globe head to India to not only be in safe hands but also enjoy a tremendous amount of savings.

You can find top hip resurfacing hospitals in India that are Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited. Additionally, several of the best Indian orthopaedic doctors are also either educated or trained internationally.

Taj Mahal, India

Hip resurfacing costs about USD8000 in India . This is so less compared to what U.S. hospitals charge for the same kind of service and quality that you can bring a companion along, spend on sightseeing and still save thousands of dollars.

OVERSEAS PATIENT TO INDIA FOR HIP RESURFACING
Richard, who hails from California, USA, had been suffering from osteoarthritis in his hips for a long time but was unable to get surgery in the United States, earlier because of unavailability of the procedure in the country and later because of the extravagant price tag it came at.

Facilitated by Healthbase, Richard had both his hips resurfaced through bilateral hip resurfacing surgery at Wockhardt Hospitals (now Fortis Hospital) in Mumbai, India, 3 years ago.

Richard after his surgery in India (Image source: Healthbase Online Inc., www.healthbase.com)

Being an avid sportsperson that he was, barely 12 weeks after his hip surgeries, Richard returned to snorkelling in the sunny Southern Californian beaches. In the past, Richard had problems walking from his car to his front door.

MEDICAL TRAVEL TIPS FOR HIP RESURFACING PATIENTS
Here are the top 5 things every medical tourist needs to do or remember for a successful medical travel trip:

1. Verify the credentials of the foreign doctor treating you.
2. Don’t let cost be the driving factor; focus on quality.
3. Keep your local doctor in the loop.
4. Don’t keep your trip too short; allow time for recuperation as well as sightseeing.
5. Engage the services of a medical travel facilitator like Healthbase. These are specialized medical travel agents that connect you with the hospital of your choice while providing all or some other valuable concierge services like detailed information about various procedures, detailed hospital profiles and surgeon profiles, medical records transfer, free surgery quote, pre- and post-consultation with the overseas hospital, feedback and testimonials from previous patients, medical and dental loan financing, passport and visa acquisition, airport pick-up and drop-off, hospital escort, tickets, travel insurance, hotel booking, sightseeing services in the destination country, etc.